MedStar Washington Hospital Center has again achieved national ranking for Cardiology & Heart Surgery in the 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings. It moved up to No. 28, from No. 30 last year. It is the only nationally recognized heart program of its kind in the Washington metropolitan area. MedStar Washington also earned “high performing” ratings in cancer, gastroenterology & GI surgery, Urology, and in 12 common procedures and conditions.
Tag: Pneumonia
Global Efforts Must Be Strengthened to End the Preventable Burden of Pneumonia: The Forum of International Respiratory Societies
On World Pneumonia Day, Nov. 12, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member, calls for urgent and expedited progress to end the preventable burden of pneumonia.
Study Is First to Examine Fibrocyte Levels in People Hospitalized with COVID-19 Pneumonia
Article title: Blood fibrocytes are associated with severity and prognosis in COVID-19 pneumonia Authors: Mada Ghanem, Méline Homps-Legrand, Marc Garnier, Lise Morer, Tiphaine Goletto, Justine Frija-Masson, Paul-Henri Wicky, Pierre Jaquet, Catherine Bancal, Margarita Hurtado-Nedelec, Luc de Chaisemartin, Madeleine Jaillet, Arnaud…
Heparin-based Blood Purification Protects Baboon Kidneys in Severe Pneumonia, Sepsis
Article title: Heparin-based blood purification attenuates organ injury in baboons with S. pneumoniae pneumonia Authors: Lingye Chen, Bryan D. Kraft, Victor L. Roggli, Zachary R. Healy, Christopher W. Woods, Ephraim L. Tsalik, Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, David M. Murdoch, Hagir B.…
This stinks: New research finds sense of smell and pneumonia linked
An acute loss of smell is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, but for two decades it has been linked to other maladies among them Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Now, a poor sense of smell may signify a higher risk of pneumonia in older adults, says a team of Michigan State University researchers.
New study suggests pregnant women hospitalized for COVID-19 do not face increased risk of death
Pregnant women who are hospitalized with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia are less likely than non-pregnant women to die from these infections, according to a new study by researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM).
New Clinical Practice Guideline on Community Acquired Pneumonia;
In its latest clinical practice guideline on community-acquired pneumonia the American Thoracic Society’s guidelines panel addresses the use of nucleic acid-based testing for non-influenza viral pathogens. The guideline was published online in the May 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. An explainer video may be viewed here.
Can Doctors Predict Which Children with Pneumonia Will Develop Mild or Severe Disease?
Currently, there are no evidence-based rules that help physicians in the Emergency Department (ED) predict if a child with community-acquired pneumonia will have a mild disease course that can be treated at home or a more severe illness that requires hospitalization. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics found that the predictive accuracy of clinical judgement was generally fair, but clinicians were least accurate when predicting progression to severe disease in children initially classified as having “low to moderate” risk, which accounts for a large portion of children presenting with pneumonia.

Five days of antibiotics fine for children with pneumonia
The study, involving 281 Ontario children, found that 85.7% of those who received the short course of antibiotics and 84.1% of those who received the longer course of medication were cured two to three weeks later.
Amount of COVID Viral RNA Detected at Hospital Admission Predicts How Patients Will Fare
A new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines whether the amount of RNA, or genomic load, of SARS-CoV-2 detected in swab tests of patients being admitted to the hospital with viral pneumonia is associated with more severe COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. Previous studies on this question have had conflicting results.
[email protected] experts can discuss #Tocilizumab research; Drug may reduce need for ventilators in #COVID19 pneumonia
Roche made news today as research showed its drug (tocilizumab) reduced patients’ need for ventilators for those with COVID-19-associated pneumonia. A University of Chicago Medicine team has done separate, independent research on tocilizumab and found similar results in their own phase II trial.…
Investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate prevents severe clinical disease in animals
In new research published in Nature Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center immunologist Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, and colleagues demonstrated that the optimal vaccine elicited robust immune response in Syrian golden hamsters and prevented severe clinical disease — including weight loss, pneumonia and death.
Researchers study whether vadadustat, an investigational therapy, could mitigate acute lung injury in COVID-19 patients
Physicians are studying whether vadadustat, an investigational therapy, could protect the lungs of COVID-19 patients by triggering the body’s protective response to low oxygen levels in a randomized Phase II clinical trial at UTHealth.

Scientists Aim Gene-Targeting Breakthrough Against COVID-19
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and Stanford have joined forces to aim a gene-targeting, antiviral agent called PAC-MAN against COVID-19.
Blood Test Indicators of Infection Response Do Not Generally Predict Severity of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children
Blood biomarkers that reflect the body’s response to infection – including white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin – are generally not useful in predicting the overall severity of community-acquired pneumonia in children, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Arthritis Drug Presents Promise as Treatment for COVID-19 Pneumonia
UC San Diego Health has launched a Phase III clinical trial to assess whether a medication used to treat rheumatoid might also have therapeutic value for patient with COVID-19 who have developed or are at high risk of developing serious lung damage from SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Rates of Pulmonary Complications Drastically Reduced with Newer Drug
Improved pulmonary outcomes in surgical patients who receive the drug sugammadex could be due to a more complete reversal of the effects of muscle relaxants used during surgery.
Study Demonstrates the Need for Immediate ICU Care for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia, Describes Patient Characteristics
Researchers have identified the most common clinical characteristics of 109 patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia who died in Wuhan, China in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Artificial Intelligence Enables Rapid COVID-19 Lung Imaging Analysis at UC San Diego Health
With support from Amazon Web Services, UC San Diego Health physicians are using AI in a clinical research study aimed at speeding the detection of pneumonia, a condition associated with severe COVID-19.

@atscommunity #lung expert Dr. Michael Niederman weighs in on #COVID-19.
Michael Niederman, MD, is a member of the American Thoracic Society as well as clinical director and associate chief in the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center, and professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill…
Russian biologist explains recent findings regarding coronavirus structure
MOSCOW (MIPT) — The atomic structure of the novel coronavirus envelope has explained why it is exceptionally contagious. Its structural features make it much easier for the Chinese coronavirus to bind to target receptors, compared with the previously known SARS…

Scientists May Have a Way to Let Preemies Breathe Easier
The continuing epidemic of pre-term birth includes this stark reality: tiny, fragile babies are born with underdeveloped lungs and prone to lifelong respiratory infections and related chronic illnesses. Cincinnati Children’s researchers report in Immunology the discovery of a complex biological process could in the development of cost effective treatments to help babies develop lifelong pulmonary resistance to respiratory infections.

Panicky Responses to the Coronavirus are Dangerous—Here’s Why
Fear of the virus may spread faster than the virus itself, a potential threat to health, liberty, trade, and the economy.
Russian expert is ready to comment on the coronavirus
Pavel Volchkov heads the Genome Engineering Lab at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), that has several key projects, all of them involving genome editing mediated by the CRISPR/Cas technology. Discovered just a few years ago, CRISPR/Cas has…
Why Experts Are Worried About a New Virus in China
The virus appears to be less dangerous than SARS, but there are still concerns of a wider outbreak in Asia.

Respiratory Groups Call for An End to Preventable Pneumonia Deaths
In support of World Pneumonia Day, Nov. 12, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a member, calls for an end to preventable pneumonia deaths, ensuring equitable access to interventions for prevention and control of pneumonia.

AI System Accurately Detects Key Findings in Chest X-Rays of Pneumonia Patients Within 10 Seconds: Study Finds Promise of Faster Treatment
From 20 minutes or more to 10 seconds. Researchers from Intermountain Healthcare and Stanford University say 10 seconds is about how quickly a new system they studied that utilizes artificial intelligence took to accurately identify key findings in chest X-rays of patients in the emergency department suspected of having pneumonia.